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Regional Journalism
Dispatches from public radio's correspondent at the Washington Legislature. Austin Jenkins is the Olympia correspondent for the Northwest News Network. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) weekly public affairs program "Inside Olympia."

Overhaul Of Marijuana Taxation Goes To Washington Governor

Drug Enforcement Agency

Recreational marijuana buyers would pay a flat 37 percent pot tax, plus sales tax, under a proposal headed to the desk of Washington Governor Jay Inslee.

The measure easily cleared the state Senate Saturday after passing the House Friday. It would eliminate the three-tier tax system approved by Washington voters in 2012. Instead, consumers would pay a single tax at the point of sale.

The measure would also ban marijuana use in a public place and ban marijuana clubs. And it would change the name of the Liquor Control Board to the Liquor and Cannabis Board.

Washington lawmakers approved a measure in April to regulate the state’s largely unregulated medical marijuana industry.